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Early Elections Scramble Israeli Political Alliances

Middle East In Focus

Middle East In Focus

Views from the Region

January 7, 2019

In December, Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu finally caved to the political realities of governing with an ever-shrinking majority and called for early parliamentary elections. Scheduled for April 2019, the elections have triggered a rush for new alliances. One of the earliest casualties in this drive for claiming the mantel of leadership has been the Zionist Union, an alliance between the Labor party and Hatnuah, which ceased to exist after Labor leader Avi Gabbay decided to pull the plug on the five-year-old alliance.

According to a Haaretz report, one of the reasons Labor’s Gabbay decided to part ways with Ms. Livni was because Livni “refused to rule out joining a future coalition headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.... Asked why he chose to break up the partnership in a public way, Gabbay said: ‘I grew up in the hood. And in the hood I learned that if they beat you up you hit back and don't run off to make peace’.... In polls taken since Gabbay's announcement, Labor is expected to take seven to eight Knesset seats with Livni's Hatnuah teetering on the edge of passing the 3.25 percent threshold, with one poll saying she wouldn't make it in and another giving her five Knesset seats.”

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The Middle East Policy Council is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to contribute to American understanding of the political, economic and cultural issues that affect U.S. interests in the Middle East.